High-profile names exit Ayers Rock Resort board after overhaul

THE owners of the Ayers Rock Resort have overhauled the board that runs the iconic tourism operation.

THE owners of the Ayers Rock Resort have overhauled the board that runs the iconic tourism operation and written down the book value of the landmark Northern Territory hotel by $62 million, after admitting the five-hotel complex faces serious financial challenges.

The Indigenous Land Corporation has made sweeping changes to the high-powered board managing the resort, known as Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, with the exit of board members including Investec Bank chairman Richard Longes, Peter Barge, former Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon and Ronald Morony.

A new chair and five new directors have been appointed to the board by the Indigenous Land Corporation.

Voyages manages the Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara, the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre, and the Home Valley Resort in the East Kimberley. The changes to the Voyages board follow a significant writedown of $62m, or 20 per cent of the value, of the Ayers Rock Resort in the Voyages financial statements for 2012-13.

The ILC, which bought the resort for $317m from GPT in 2010, now values it at $250m and said in a statement the resort's challenges arose from a long-term structural decline in its operating environment and the scale of borrowings.

The ILC said it would underwrite all deficits and borrowings to its subsidiaries. The challenges are to strengthen the financial sustainability of the businesses, reinvigorate marketing programs, and attract more visitors, it said.

ILC chairwoman Dawn Casey welcomed the new appointments.

Voyages chairman David Baffsky left the board last Saturday after completing his term.

Former Goldman Sachs (Australia) general counsel Lisa Gay has been appointed Voyages chairwoman. George Bedwani, the chief operating officer of Transmetro, joins the board.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: BEN WILMOT